The present invention relates to the field of storing vehicles and equipment when they are not in use and, more particularly, to securely storing such items in a manner that reduces the risk of theft of same.
The bicycle, of course, is not a new invention. Remarkably, though, it retains extraordinary utility and remains an important device around the world despite its mechanical simplicity. Notwithstanding the dominance the automobile has achieved during the last half century as the major mode of transportation on American highways, the bicycle continues to provide transportation, entertainment, and exercise for millions of Americans. In many other countries, the bicycle is the dominant source of affordable transportation, and in a world growing ever more concerned about the detrimental effect the automobile has on the environment, the bicycle along with public transportation is seen as a socially valuable alternative to the automobile. Moreover, the bicycle is a valuable exercise tool for increasingly health conscious American adults, and, of course, for the foreseeable future the bicycle will remain a ubiquitous feature of childhood for millions of America""s youth.
Nonetheless, many of the features that make the bicycle such a useful devicexe2x80x94lightweight and highly mobilexe2x80x94also ensure that the bicycle is an easy target for theft. According to national crime statistics, every year an estimated 5.6 million bicycles are stolen. (Source: NBC Dateline, Sep. 30, 1997.) Indeed, the resale market for stolen bicycles is a billion dollar-a-year industry, according to these same statistics. The same risk pertains to many useful devices found in the garage of the average American home, including other lightweight vehicles such as mopeds, and yard equipment such as mechanical hedgers, electric clippers, and even lawnmowers. Such devices, like the bicycle, are valuable because they are handy and easy to move, but this is also what makes such devices so vulnerable to a would-be thief going past an open door to a garage where these devices are invariably stored.
Over the years, a number of bicycle storing devices have been proposed in an attempt to provide convenience or anti-theft benefits. Some existing devices attempt to combine such features. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,936, issued to Hoenig and titled Bicycle Hanger, describes a vertical, wall-mountable device for holding a two-wheeled bicycle in a vertical position with one bicycle tire held on a narrow hook at the top of the device and the second tire resting within a near-floor level ring along with a second ring near the first to hold a lock and chain. U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,461, issued to Heffley and titled Bicycle Locking Device, describes a device mounted to a wall or other surface and having at its base a support arm attached to a locking arm, both of which can pivot upwardly or remain locked in place in a horizontal position. At the end of the locking arm, a xe2x80x9cjaw-likexe2x80x9d fastener capable of holding a bicycle crossbar is attached.
The Hoenig device requires a plurality of spaced-apart connections holding it to a vertical wall surface if it is to have xe2x80x9cvertical stability.xe2x80x9d In contrast, the base of the Heffley device could be attached, for example, to a ceiling surface. Both devices, however, exhibit the same limitation with respect to bicycle theft deterrence: the portions designed to hold separate locking members are within easy reach for a would-be thief. Heffley suggests placing a padlock through a narrow hole in a lip at the end of the crossbar fastener, but to easily store the bike the fastener must be in easy reach so that one can lift the entire bicycle vertically upward so as to place the crossbar in the vise-like grip positioned at the end of the locking arm. This ensures, though, that the padlock will be just as easy to reach as the locking arm and grip. Accordingly, the lock will be an easy reach for a potential thief as well.
Although the chain-accommodating ring in Hoenig provides a mechanism for securing a bicycle with a heavier, more secure lock as compared to the simple padlocks utilizable in devices like that of Heffley, the position of the ring is nonetheless like the locking lip shown in Heffley, for example, which is easy to reach for would-be thieves. Indeed, a loop, positioned as in Hoenig, is even more theft-amenable in that it is positioned near the bottom of the device near the ring in which a tire rests. A would-be thief crouched in a corner of an open garage would be able to easily attack the lock and chain extending through the ring. Thus, while the ring accommodates a more secure locking device as compared to a Heffley-style padlock, the position of the ring allows a thief to have easy access to the locking device while keeping a low-profile so as to reduce the chance of being seen while undoing the lock.
Other devices similarly fail to provide an apparatus that not only allows one to easily position a bicycle for storing, yet also includes a locking mechanism or place to attach a separate lock that is not within easy reach of a would-be bicycle thief. U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,007, issued to Fritz, et al. and titled Rack Especially Adapted for Use with Bicycles, for example, describes an L-shaped rack that basically provides a wheel well mounted to a wall; one bicycle tire rests on the ground while the other is positioned in the well-founded well and locked in place. A chain or bar lock can be positioned through and within spaced-apart holes in the wall-mounted rack, but it is placed around the wheel which must be restrained lest it slide out of the sloping well that is the interior of the rack.
The disadvantages of such devices are multifold. First one must hold the bicycle in place without its slipping out of the wheel well while the locking member is threaded into place. This can be cumbersome. Secondly, while it is certainly cumbersome to hold a bicycle in place while threading a lock so as to keep it in place, the lock will be left at a level height that would be convenient for a potential thief to access. Placing the lock higher would force a thief to reach up, making disengagement difficult while also making the would-be thief easier to detect, but, placing the lock higher, would make mounting the bicycle in the well and holding it there long enough to thread a lock that much more difficult for the bicycle owner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,009, issued to Smith and titled Bicycle Rack, describes a device that can be attached to almost any surface, provided multiple connection points are utilized to adequately secure the device to the chosen surface. Specifically, Smith describes an elongated channel having a stepped base and right-angled wall member with spaced-apart holes to facilitate fasteners that can be threaded through the spokes of a bicycle to hold a bicycle tire to the channel member. Smith does permit one to place a bicycle out of easy reach of a potential thief. Doing so, however, entails mounting the rack to an upper wall portion or ceiling of a structure and then attaching the bicycle by securing its tires to the device with securing pins. This might be acceptable in cases where a bicycle owner wanted to store the bicycle for an extended period, but it would it be an unduly burdensome task to perform on a daily basis. Thus, whatever advantages would be gained by securing the rack to an upper surface so as to reduce access for a would be thief, would accordingly make it commensurately difficult for the bicycle owner to position the bicycle for storing it. Like the other devices, however, placing the rack in a lower, easier to reach position could be an invitation to a bicycle thief, especially given that a well-known method of stealing a bicycle having a lock around tire is simply to separate the tire and the bicycle frame.
Indeed, while failing to recognize the essential problem of preventing easy access to the locking member, conventional devices in fact provide little in the way of easy mounting of the bicycle to be stored. Both Smith-style mounting and pinning, as well as holding up and locking the bicycle as in Fritz, et al., can be awkward and difficult, as well as time consuming. Both kinds of devices impose cumbersome constraints, in that each type requires one to hold a bicycle in place while fastening a lock or other fastening member to keep the bicycle from slipping out of position. A Heffley-type vise gripper is within easy reach, as noted above, but requires positioning the crossbar of a bicycle within the saddle of the gripper. The gripper cannot be threaded through the spokes of a bicycle to provide other storing positions, such as suspending the stored bicycle on one wheel. Thus, while conventional devices fail to provide maximum theft-deterring features, they do little to enhance the convenience of mounting a bicycle for storing. None adequately provide both convenience in positioning along with a locking mechanism positioned so as to enhance security against theft. As detailed here, there persists a sub-optimal trade-off between ease of storing and reducing the threat of theft of a stored bicycle.
With the foregoing in mind, the apparatus of the present invention advantageously stores a bicycle while it protects it against theft of the bicycle. The invention, more. specifically, provides both ease in mounting a bicycle for storage while simultaneously providing uniquely positioned and fashioned features that reduce the threat of theft of the stored bicycle. The claimed invention provides other advantages as well, including in terms of size, portability, ease in placement and detachment, and limited manufacturing requirements and costs. Moreover, it will be obvious that the advantages disclosed by the present invention pertain to storage of other types of lightweight vehicles such as a motor bike or conventional equipment like a lawnmower or other device conventionally stored in a home garage.
The present invention provides an elongate bicycle mount that can be suspended from the ceiling or a wall of a structure. The distal end of the elongate mount is arcuate, with the curvature being sufficient to hold in place a bicycle frame or tire while being sufficiently open so as to permit the arcuate distal end to be easily extended through the spokes of a bicycle thereby enabling the easy placement of the tire therein so as to suspend the bicycle. Thus, an advantage of the present invention is that it permits easy positioning of a bicycle for storage in a home garage or beneath an overhang of some other structure.
Positioned above the arcuate distal end of the suspended bicycle mount, formed with or connected to the mount, is a substantially closed loop. The loop is capable of receiving and holding a U-shaped lock or a combination of lock and chain. Forming the loop as a unitary piece of the elongate mount has significant manufacturing advantages, but regardless of whether the loop is formed as part of, or otherwise connected to, the elongate member, a significant advantage of the present invention is the unique placement of the loop, especially if it the mount is suspended from the ceiling or an upper portion of a wall. Specifically, the substantially closed loop is positioned at medial portion between the proximal and the arcuate distal ends of the elongate mount. More specifically, the distance between the center of the loop and the farthest axial extent of the elongate mount at the bend in the arcuate distal end is optimally between one quarter and one half the axial length of the elongate mount. The dimensions are purposeful and advantageous with respect to reducing the risk of theft of the bicycle stored upon the elongate mount whenever the mount is suspended to a ceiling or upper portion of a wall. In the present invention, the arcuate distal end can extend down far enough to make it easy to mount a bicycle tire (or, if two mounts are used, a bicycle frame) over the arcuate end so as to store the bicycle suspended upon the mount. Yet at the same time, if the mount is suspended from the ceiling or upper wall portion, with the substantially closed loop positioned sufficiently above the arcuate end, one must reach up to thread a locking device through the loop and around the bicycle mounted upon the elongate mount.
The reach upward for the closed loop, given the relative distances of the arcuate end and closed loop, is not enough to be unduly burdensome to the bicycle owner. Yet the height is sufficient to make it difficult for a would-be thief to attack the lock while standing on the floor of a home garage or surface beneath an overhang where the elongate mount may be suspended. Not only is the would-be thief""s manual dexterity reduced in such a position, but so, too, is the opportunity for the thief to attack the lock by kneeling down to avoid detection or appear inconspicuous. Thus, the relative distance between the arcuate end and the closed loop provides an optimal trade-off: a small cost in inconvenience, but a substantial return in theft deterrence.
Further, theft deterrence is achieved by providing a unitary fastener at the upper end of the elongate suspended mount. For example, a thread screw can be formed with or connected to the proximal end of the elongate suspended mount so as to attach it to the ceiling or wall of a structure. Assuming that a lock and chain is positioned through the closed loop of the mount and around the frame of bicycle, the elongate mount fastened with a unitary fastener cannot be unscrewed from the wall or ceiling without rotating the entire bicycle frame as well as the unitarily fastened elongate suspended mount; rotating the mount without simultaneously rotating the bicycle frame works only to wrap a chain tighter around the mount. Alternatively, if a U-shaped lock is positioned through the closed loop, the lock will prevent separate rotation of mount and bicycle altogether. Thus, additional risk deterrence is provided with the present invention by forming at or connecting to the elongate suspended mount a fastener fixedly connected to the elongate suspended mount.
Optimally, the fastener just described will be formed as a unitary part of the elongate suspended mount. Doing so not only serves to ensure that the integrally formed fastener cannot be twisted without twisting the entire elongate suspended mount, but furthermore creates efficiencies in manufacturing. Forming the elongate suspended mount and integrally formed fastener obviates the need for independently producing the mount and the fastener requiring two independent production processes. Further efficiencies likewise can be achieved by unitarily forming as part of the elongate mount the substantially closed loop positioned between the upper end fastener and the arcuate distal end of the mount. Accordingly, the costs of manufacturing the present invention are concomitantly reduced by simplifying the manufacturing process needed to produce the device embodying the present invention.
Not only are manufacturing advantages achieved with the present invention, but additionally the unitarily formed mount and fastener provide for easy placement and detachment by the user of the invention whenever a bicycle frame is not secured to the device. If, for example, the simple unitary thread-screw fastener described above is utilized, the device can be connected to and detached from a structure as easily as turning a screw once a thread screw recess in the structure has been provided. It is thus seen that the present invention lends itself to providing a plurality of separate recesses for receiving the thread-screw fasteners of any number of separate elongate suspended mounts. For example, a separate beam having several thread-screw collars can be attached to the ceiling of a garage or the overhang of a public building. Any number of separate elongate suspended mounts can then be fastened to the beam according to the particular temporal demand for bicycle storing capacity.